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Postwar Purges

Postwar Purges. I. The Problem A. Communism B. Corruption II. Pressure from below A. Popular anti-Communism B. Democratic desires III. Pressure from above A. Political winds B. Ambition & Sensationalism C. New Laws IV. Reds or Rackets? A. Anti-Communist purge

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Postwar Purges

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  1. Postwar Purges I. The Problem A. Communism B. Corruption II. Pressure from below A. Popular anti-Communism B. Democratic desires III. Pressure from above A. Political winds B. Ambition & Sensationalism C. New Laws IV. Reds or Rackets? A. Anti-Communist purge B. The War on Gangsterism C. The Hollow core?

  2. Radicalism • Issues: • Loyalty to U.S. • Apologists for tyranny • Undermines labor’s hard-won legitimacy • Ambivalent attitude towards democracy Farrell Dobbs, chair, Central States’ Drivers Socialist Workers’ Party Police battle Minneapolis teamsters, 1934

  3.  Con Shea Corruption • Embezzlement • Tolerate gang power • Gangsters are seldom effective unionists • Exploit workers for personal benefit • Deny democracy, crush dissent • Teamsters • Laborers Jimmy Hoffa  Dave Beck

  4. Popular anti-Communism • React to pressure, propaganda • Government • Church • But also genuine concern about Communist control • USSR expands control over Eastern Europe • Suppresses Catholicism • Stalin’s crimes exposed UE workers vote to disaffiliate their local, 1949

  5. Democratic Desires • Rank and file workers rise up against the leaders of the International Longshoremen’s Association • East Coast dockworkers • Controlled by New York hit man Albert Anastasia • Kickbacks, favoritism, coercion, tyranny Longshoremen stage wildcat strike, 1948 Rev. John Corridan, S.J., 1951

  6. Political Winds • House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), 1938-1975 • Attacks domestic Communists, socialists, liberals, & racial egalitarians • World War II • Smith Act of 1940 • Election of 1948 • Harry Truman (D) • Thomas Dewey (R) • Strom Thurmond (Dix) • Henry Wallace (Prog) Rep. Martin Dies (D-TX) exhibits criminal records of CIO officials

  7. Scandals & Accusations • Murder Inc. • Garment unions contain both Communists and gangsters • Hillman fights both • Conservatives hope Lepke will implicate Hillman Sidney Hillman ACWA president Louis “Lepke” Buchalter

  8. Ambition & Sensationalism • HUAC • Kefauver, 1951 • McClellan, 1957-8 Bobby Kennedy, 1957

  9. New Laws • Taft-Hartley Act, 1948 • Limits strikes, boycotts • Restores federal labor injunctions • Outlaws closed shop, allowed states to bar undermine union shops • Unions officers must file affidavits swearing not to be Communists • Landrum-Griffin Act, 1959 • Regulates internal union affairs • Forbids former-Communists and ex-cons from holding a union office for five years • Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), 1970 Senator Robert Taft (R-OH)

  10. Anti-Communist Purge • Major internal fights: • UAW • Steelworkers • Between 1949-51, CIO expels eleven unions, over one million members • In 1955, CIO expels: • Seafarers • Marine Engineers Harry Bridges defends Communist CIO unions, 1949

  11. The War on Gangsterism • Journalists, politicians, unionists themselves seek to stem corruption • Targets fight back • But the 1930s are over • Government demands unions be responsible Riesel describes his blinding, 1956

  12. The Hollow Core? • AFL-CIO purges some of labor’s most aggressive unions • What remains is conservative, mainstream, & reasonably honest • But what remains is not equipped to deal with the insurgent corporations of the period 1980-present.

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